Rivera entered art school at a very young age and moved to Europe in 1907. There he was deeply affected by the great Italian muralists and contemporary French painters. Returning home in 1921, he became a painter of murals, and over the next several years the direction of Mexican art changed dramatically under his leadership. During the 1930s, Rivera painted a number of large murals in the United States and had a major influence on American art, as the federal government began to fund the painting of large murals in public buildings. The theme of a flower vendor, dwarfed by a massive display of flowers, was one that Rivera painted many times.